Thais halt Indonesia's clean sweep in shooting
KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Thailand denied Indonesian woman shooters of a clean sweep in the double trap event at the Subang Shooting Range on Friday.
Both teams shared the glory, with Indonesia reigning supreme in the team event and Thailand taking the individual category.
The trio of Sarmunah, Sylvia Silimang, and Supadmi, who grabbed both golds in the trap event on Saturday, combined for a total of 289 points over three rounds to win the team gold.
Sylvia scored 100 (31-36-32), Sarmunah made it 99 (31-33-35) and Supadmi 91 (26-34-31).
The Thailand team finished second place with a total of 278 points when Bangorn Chewchalermmit scored 106 (34-35-37), Vilawan Muneemongkoltorn shot 87 (32-29-26) and Punnapa Asvanit recorded 85 (28-29-28).
Singapore was third with Goh Chung Wei scoring 78 (23-29-26), Aihni binti Samat 74 (27-26-21) and Tan Poh Tian 71 (17-28-26) for a total of 223.
Bangorn won the individual gold with a new SEA Games record of 141 after shooting 35 in the final round.
Sylvia also made it 35 in the final round, but had to be content with the silver on 135 points. Sarmunah was third, one point behind Sylvia for the bronze. Supadmi was fourth with a total of 122 points.
The outcome has surpassed the one-gold target demanded by the Indonesian Sports Shooting and Hunting Association (Perbakin).
"We did not expect to win medals in the women's trap as we knew that Thailand was good in those events," team manager Benny Mamoto told The Jakarta Post.
Indonesia claimed three gold medals, two silvers and three bronze in competition shooting.
Perbakin chairman Sutiyoso who was in Kuala Lumpur asked the team to make early preparations for the Hanoi 2003 SEA Games.
Benny said he had a brief discussion with Sutiyoso, who is also the Jakarta Governor, on how to improve Indonesia's achievement in shooting events, which provided 36 gold medals this year.
"Pak Sutiyoso also asked me to set priorities on which events our shooters excel in, such as the women's rifle prone and men's air pistol. He set a one-week deadline for me to submit a proposal of a training program," he said.
It will also include the use of a foreign coach as Perbakin does not hire any professional or full-time coaches.
"So far we have approached Mr. Lu Lian Seng of China and Mr. Bobusky of Russia to coach our athletes," Benny said.
Benny also said Sutiyoso had promised to give the shooters a bonus.
"Pak Sutiyoso did not say what the form or value of the bonus would be but he said he was preparing the bonus. One thing is for sure, Sarmunah will receive a new rifle."
Controversy
Also on Friday, Thai rifleman Tavarit Majcharcheep was awarded two gold medals despite suffering a points deduction for taking an extra shot.
Even with 11 points lopped off his score, Tavarit's tally of 1,255 points in the men's three-position rifle was 15 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Mohd. Emran of Malaysia.
Tavarit, who has won four shooting golds at these SEA Games, also helped Thailand to victory in the team event. It beat Malaysia by 20 points with a final score of 3,431 points, after the deduction.
Both the individual and team tallies were SEA Games records.
Adam Tee Ching Huat, the assistant shooting competition director, said as quoted by the Associated Press that Tavarit's score was reduced because he had taken a shot at the wrong target during the team event, then taken an extra shot.
Malaysia had launched a protest after the incident on Wednesday and Thailand appealed the decision of a classification jury to deduct the points. The jury finally rejected the appeal.
"The results have now been posted and that's final," Adam Tee said. "Thailand has not come back to protest so it must be all right." (nvn)